Three of Cal Maritime's International Business and Logistics (IBL) students Amanda Carvalho, Neil Sterud, and Israel Monroy-Hernandez, took home first place at the University of North Florida's Logistics & Supply Chain Management Case Competition recently held in Jacksonville, Fla.

The IBL seniors took first place over eight other prestigious universities from across the country at the annual competition hosted by UNF's Coggin College of Business.

Students competed on proposals for Supply Chain and Logistics issues facing the changing industry.

"The competition was an excellent opportunity for our IBL students to integrate the knowledge acquired in business courses that deal with supply chains, transportation, and logistics," said IBL professor Dr. Khalid Bachkar.

"Indeed, it was an excellent experience for our students to showcase their problem-solving capability and analytical skills in transportation and logistics. Bringing home the first-place trophy demonstrates the quality of our IBL curriculum and bolsters our assurance that we are equipping our IBL students with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in the workforce."

Dr. Bachkar also serves as a faculty advisor to the team and accompanied them on the visit to UNF for the competition. The event was funded by the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) and was further subsidized by IANA.

The team faced some significant competition from business schools at the following universities:

• Georgia Southern
• University of Arkansas
• University of Maryland
• University of North Florida
• University of North Texas
• University of Wisconsin-Superior
• SUNY Maritime

Teams had five hours with a case to deliberate and come to a solution around logistics and intermodal transportation. The following day, they presented to a panel of industry professionals who judged their work.

The IBL students initially placed in the top three of the competition, and moved on to a round of on-the-spot questions about their case study presentation. They excelled in showcasing the industry knowledge they have learned both in the classroom and with real-world experience.

After the judge’s hard decision Cal Maritime took first place over the eight other prestigious universities. Congratulations to Amanda Carvalho, Neil Sterud, and Israel Monroy-Hernandez for doing an outstanding job and for representing Cal Maritime.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AND LOGISTICS